Russia Identifies State Actor Behind Drone Attacks On Their Military Bases In Syria

IHA Photo

Russia Identifies State Actor Behind Drone Attacks On Their Military Bases In Syria

Putin tells Erdoğan that he knows who was behind attack on Russia’s Syria bases

Daily Sabah

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Turkish counterpart that he knows which “provocateur” was behind a drone attack which targeted Russian military bases in Syria earlier this month.

During the phone call initiated by Putin, the Russian president stated that Turkey had nothing to do with the drone attack on military targets in Syria.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said Wednesday that the drones that attacked Russian air and naval bases in Syria last week were launched from positions held by “moderate opposition.”

“The documents indicate the need for Ankara to fulfill its obligations to ensure compliance with the cessation of hostilities by the armed forces under its control and to intensify the work on setting up observation posts in the de-escalation zone of Idlib in order to prevent such attacks by armed [unmanned aerial vehicles] UAVs,” the ministry said.

Some 13 armed drones were involved in attacks on Russia’s Hemeimeem air base and Tartus naval base in western Syria. Russian defense ministry reported no casualties or damages after the attacks.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, on the other hand, called upon Iran and Russia to stop Assad regime violations against the moderate opposition forces in Idlib, saying that they the two states had to realize their duties as guarantor states.

Turkey and Russia, together with Iran, are the guarantor countries that brokered a cease-fire in Syria in December 2016, leading to the Astana talks, which ran parallel to the U.N.-backed discussions in Geneva to find a political solution to the six-year war.

In September, the three countries agreed to jointly monitor a fourth safe zone around Idlib province as part of the tripartite plan to ease the Syrian conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.